Moving to 35's and leaning towards BFG MT's. Who's running them and what do you think - would you run them again? What do they look like after 20k miles of driving?

 

I'm assuming you are talking about the BFG KM2? I ran them in a 33 and had no real complaints. I heard people say they suck in the rain, snow, loose sand, etc. But everyone develops an opinion on the tire they run. A couple guys in my club have run them and most have switched. Some people just like trying new tires, and some guys stuck with them. I switched to the Nitto Trail Graps when I moved to a 35 and love them. I was looking at those, toyos, and MTR/K and love the TGs. Honestly don't know if I'll change to another tire.

Just curious, what type of wheeling are you doing? That can make a huge impact on the type of tire you should look at. Deep mud, fire trails, rock crawing, or just looking for that aggressive tire look?

 

I am talking about the KO's - you're correct. I completely agree, tires are religion! Your post is exactly what I'm looking for - experience/opinions/advice. Good stuff. Thanks!

 

NJKURPat has this right. Really depends on what you expect from the tire.

I run KM2s and love them for a daily driver that I can go rock crawl with.

As for the KOs you referenced. Make sure to look at load rating on these. Many are Load E and that will give you a pretty harsh ride. You want a Load range D. As for the tire itself, we have this tire on our TJ (31x10.50x15) and absolutely love them for a good all-purpose jeep tire. Great on the highway, great in the rain. Does pretty good on the mud and for trail riding. We don't rock crawl the TJ, it's the trail-riding/everyday grocery getter jeep. For a vehicle with 4WD that's not going to climb a 36" ledge, this is a great choice.

 

The KO's and KM2's are very different tires. The KM2's are the MT, the KO's are an A/T. They actually just released the KO2 and I have heard nothing but phenomenal reviews on it. Guy in the club runs them on his tow rig and he had nothing but great feedback after a stormy winter and said pulling his rig through mud was no problem. My uncle runs them on his JK for a predominately snow/sand wheeling and can't stop talking about them.

 

My bad - I was referring to KM2s! But I'd consider KO2 (ATs) also.

 

So it really depends on what you want out of your tires?

 

My opinion....which is worth exactly what you paid for it.....is this:

I don't like BFG rubber. Or Goodyear rubber for that matter. Both in my past experiences seem very soft, which translates into accelerated wear. That said, I've never run the BFG KO/KO2s, so I don't have any experience with them. I've run a set of Nitto Trail Grapplers in 37x12.50-17 for nearly 5 years and have put about 40k miles on them, mostly on-road driving and several wheeling trips involving lots of loose dirt, mud, small rocks, large boulders, rock ledges, and still have at least another 5k miles or better to go before they're completely done. Now the last time I went off-road, I did notice some slippage when trying to climb a ledge. I could've made it up, but being that I had a stock JK following me, I wasn't 100% certain he'd have made it up behind me. So I called it quits at that point and went to another trail. Overall, I've been extremely impressed by them. Road noise was very minimal at first, but after about 5k miles on them they did develop the normal MT hum. Not overly loud and nothing that drowns out the radio at highway speeds by any means. They've always balanced well, I've rotated them pretty meticulously every 3k miles until recently. My JKU no longer sees daily driver duty, except for the occasional week when I decide it's really nice out and want to go naked.

So if it were me....I'd consider the Trail Grapplers. But again....just my two pennies. Worth exactly what you paid for it.

 

I have 35 KM2's on 15" rims on My JK. I bought it this way 1 year ago almost to the day.

I have nothing to compare it too as I am a first time wrangler owner and these are the only tires I have used.

I have used them in sand (Silver Lake, MI) and they performed well i.e. I made it up every hill without much issue at all. But that just could be the jeep...or my superior driving skills (insert roll eyes here)

Also throughout the winter I thought the tire performed very well in rain/wet/snow. I expected a lot worse given the fact the reviews were not always great for the KM2's in that type of environment. I don't remember a time that I experienced a loss of traction were I felt like I was about to loose control. I do live in eastern Michigan, not a lot of heavy downpours and we had only 1 good snowstorm this year. My $0.02

Without knowing any better I would recommend them.

 

I have the Nitto Trail Grap M/Ts and I think they're terribly stiff. My good friend has pretty much the identical JKU with the BFG KM2s and I think they ride much better. They perform similarly enough on the trails we do to not notice a difference off road. I will say that when he airs down, his tires will conform to rocks more where my Nittos still look like they have 28 psi in them.